India considering Nepal’s plea for PM’s visit to that country

Government is giving “due and serious” attention to a request made by Nepal for a visit by the Indian Prime Minister to that country.

The Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs said the matter was raised with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and senior Indian officials by Nepal when they were in Myanmarese capital Nay Pyi-Taw to attend the BIMSTEC summit earlier this week.

“Yes, there has been a request made and this is being given due and serious attention,” he said while replying to a question on the issue. Last month, veteran Nepali Congress leader Sushil Koirala, who spent 16 years in political exile in India after the royal takeover of 1960 in Nepal, was elected as the country’s Prime Minister.

Singh had hailed Koirala’s election as Prime Minister of Nepal as an “important milestone” and conveyed India’s keenness to further strengthen ties between the two countries. The MEA spokesperson said “strong bonds” bind India and Nepal and the request for the visit was being considered.

Asked about India’s position on the UN Human Rights Council resolution on Sri Lanka, he said the text of the resolution is being examined by the government. He said all all aspects of the matter will be taken into account before taking a view on it.

“We will take into account all aspects of the matter before we take a view on this. As you are aware, this is an evolving situation and there are continuing discussions going on in Geneva and we will take it from there,” he said adding the government received the text of the resolution today.

Sri Lanka has come under increasing international pressure to probe allegations of excessive civilian deaths during the security forces’ final offensive against LTTE that ended in May 2009. He said the issue of Indian fishermen figured in the meeting the Prime Minister had with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the sidelines of BIMSTEC summit in Nay Pyi-Taw.

“The Prime Minister did emphasise that this is a matter that needs to be treated as a livelihood issue and needs to be dealt with in a humane manner. As regards the UNHCR resolution, at this stage there was no substantive discussion in that meeting on this matter. However, we agreed that we will be in regular touch,” he said.